Cranking out some projects!

While I don't feel like I've knit a whole lot of interesting things so far this year, I have made a lot of things. My goal was to make a couple of sweaters, 52 hats for charity, and 12 pairs of socks, and so far, I'm right on track for the hats, I'm ahead on the socks, and I'm already nearly done with the 2nd sweater! I've got to find some more projects...

I'll start with hats. As I mentioned in my last post, I'd like to knit or crochet 52 hats this year for my Grandma's church's charity. I have never made anything for something like this, and I felt that if I have the time and resources to make myself so many beautiful things, I can make some for others. I have quite a bit of random colors of worsted and DK weight yarn, leftovers from past projects and skeins Grandma let me pick out of her huge stash. Most of it is acrylic, and all of it is too much to just cannibalize for the Ugly Square. So I am going to use up what I can to make hats this year. Much of it is pinks and purples, or baby yarn, and at this time, with 3 little boys and a nephew, I just don't have much use for those things. And much of it is very old (30+ years on some of it!) and scratchy, and I don't think I would enjoy making things with it, let alone wearing it. Grandma uses whatever she wants with her projects, so I figured I could too.

It is the 3rd week of February, and I am up to 8 completed hats. I showed 3 last time. I have a couple more Chiefs colored ones, and the others are combinations of pretty variegated yarns I have had.

I have been using the same pattern for each one, now that I have it memorized, and it was from a Red Heart label. I haven't been religiously working on these every week, but I am keeping up and catching up when I need to. I am making the "adult size" on the pattern, but I think my gauge must be pretty tight, because I can't wear these hats. I could wear the first hat. I don't know what I've changed. They at least fit the boys. Grandma tells me that she made 150 hats last year, and nearly as many twiddle muffs. I will stick to my 52...

Part of the reason I haven't been making hats every week is because I am participating in the Grocery Girls Podcast sock bash. I have planned out my entire year in yarn and patterns so I can complete a pair of socks each month (WIP's don't count) that fits the theme. At the end of the year, I would like to enter for their grand prize, which might be something really cool, and there are decent odds of winning if you complete all 12. I have on my calendar (yes, I am like that) for the first 2 weeks every month to work on socks, so I can complete them early and get them posted in time. For February, the theme is cables:

The yarn is Opal, and when it was in the ball I wasn't too keen on knitting it. I bought it to add some different colors to my sock yarn scrap blanket, but it didn't look like anything I normally wear. Once I caked it up, though, I started to see how beautiful it is. My hubby even said if I wanted to knit him a pair out of that yarn he would love them! We'll see...

I knit the Felia socks, but I started them toe-up. I am self-conscious about knitting cuff-down socks with my big giant feet. I just don't want to run out of yarn right before the toe and have to find something else that matches. I messed up the chart a little by looking at it upside-down (you can see the bottom is different than the top in the upper photo), so I wish I had done a better job on that, but I think they turned out neat. I was in a rush to finish them, since February is a shorter month and I had other goals in mind, so when the cable pattern took too long for me, I did the chart once and finished it. I wore them yesterday, and I really like just the detail on the top of the foot. No one knows it's there but me, unless I am home with my shoes off.

I over-estimated how much yarn it would take for the KirbyWirby Afterthought Heel and the cuff, so the leg is a little short and I have a LOT left over for my blanket. I love the little cables in the ribbing, and these socks don't fall down like most of my others, so I may keep the length. Love the heel! It makes so much sense. I posted about it on my Ravelry projects here.


Once I finished the socks, I started on Grandma's sweater. I showed a photo of the hot pink sweater I'm making for my Grandma, out of yarn she was donated. I quickly finished the front that was pictured and started on another project, then the 1st rolled around and I wanted to work on my cabled socks. Once I finished those socks, I jumped right in on the back of the sweater, which is identical. I am about at the same place as the photo, so I won't include one this time. I plan to finish it this weekend and do all the finishing work next week, unless I don't have time to finish the other project I'm working on, in which case I'll save it for next month. I showed it to her today, and she loved it. She even liked the reverse side, so I told her she can wear it however she wants!

The last project I'm working on right now is another pair of socks. I don't remember if I've mentioned it or not, but I sing with the Kansas City Symphony Chorus under a fantastic and charismatic director. I take my knitting to nearly every rehearsal, and when I was working on the black and neon socks last month, he walked by and said that his 1 pair of hand-knitted socks were his favorite, then jokingly told me he's a size 8 1/2. I told him my feet were size 10 1/2, and he said that it's basically the same size in socks. So I thought, I'm knitting myself 12 pairs of socks (give or take 1 or 2--my hubby has some queued up too), and I hardly even wear socks. This man wears socks every day of his life (I've maybe seen him in sandals once in 6 years), so surely I can knit him a pair. I went out and bought a beautiful pair of balls of Patons Kroy yarn from Hobby Lobby the next day, and I'm working on toe-up Vanilla Latte socks for him. I am hoping to have them done by Thursday (6 more days) so I can enter them for February's sock bash. I *love* the yarn colors! They started with navy in the toe, then teal with navy flecks, then burgundy, and light blue with teal and purple flecks. I don't have a photo of them yet, but I'm getting ready to start the heel, so I will have them done for my next post. I can't wait to see his face when I give them to him! He even mentioned it to me again this week, as I was working on my Felia socks before rehearsal. I told him I already bought yarn, but I don't think he heard me as someone else started talking to him. They are flying off the needles, being mostly stockinette.

Next month, along with my socks, hats, and finishing up Grandma's sweater, I'm taking part in my very first mystery knit along! It is a sport weight cowl, and I immediately knew exactly what I wanted to use. I have some Road to China Light that I bought on destash last summer that didn't have a designated project, so it is my new cowl! I wound it up the other night, and now I can't stop touching it! I am going to enjoy the heck out of knitting and then wearing this puppy. They release a clue a week for 4 weeks, so hopefully between making socks, hats, and taking care of little people I might be able to keep up. I'm so excited! I've been wanting to do a MKAL for a few months, and it seems like spring is the time for them. I can't wait to see what it looks like.

Finally, I have a photo of a FO in the wild. I love this outfit today, and my favorite shawl is one of the best parts of it!

New Year, New Goals

It’s been a little while, and I still haven’t gotten around to making my post about all the projects I finished in the last year. I will have to do that in another post, so I can sort everything a little better.

So far for 2019, I have completed an entire sweater, a pair of socks, and 3 hats! I’m pretty impressed with myself, and pleased with how the projects are turning out. One of the podcasts I watch was running a “Knit your behind off” sweater KAL from January 1 through 31, so I gave myself the deadline of 2 weeks, and made it! I knit an entire worsted weight, size 2X sweater for myself in only 11 days! I had it washed and blocked and was wearing it before my deadline. I couldn’t believe how quickly it went.

I knit the Weekender by Andrea Mowry. I bought the yarn for this sweater back in August, after the same podcast ladies were talking about it in detail, so I thought it would be a good one to try for myself. I used cheap(er) wool from JoAnn’s, Paton’s Classic Wool Worsted in a gray color. It was really the only one they had 8 skeins of the same dye lot that day, or else I would probably have picked a different color. I started on the sweater and knit about 2/3 of one ball the first couple of days, and thought I might be cutting it close on the yardage, so I bought 1 more skein, from a different dye lot. I added a couple of inches to the body (I have a long torso and didn’t want my belly to show), and I worked the stitch count for the 3X sleeves, since my arms were larger than the 2X schematic.

The sweater turned out huge, and I didn’t even use a full 7 skeins! I don’t know how my gauge got so far off. I did actually swatch (I didn’t want to knit for hours on a sweater and not have it fit!), but somehow my gauge was a little bigger, and I didn’t use nearly as much yarn as I should have. The sweater is supposed to have quite a bit of positive ease, but mine has so much. It is very slouchy, and I don’t think I’ll be wearing it out as much as I would like. I do wear it all the time at home, though. It is incredibly warm! I went out in 20 degree weather the other night, and didn’t realize I wasn’t wearing my coat until we left the venue after the sun went down! It fits like a very oversized sweatshirt, which is nice, because none of mine really fit anymore. I’m just proud to have something that I made to wear. If I end up losing some weight, I might even steek it under the arms to make it a little less boxy, but I’m not worried about it right now. I don’t mind the scratchiness of the less expensive wool, and I’m planning another sweater in the same wool later. I even took back the 2 skeins and exchanged them for two of the other colors I would like. I posted more details about the sweater here.

So, I get to check “make a sweater for myself” off the list, finally! I’m so happy. I have yarn to make several more, of varying weights: 4 fingering weight, 1 sport, 3 DK weight, 3 more worsted. I would like to lose weight before I make something more fitted for myself, but for the first project, I’m okay with this boxy one. I wouldn’t even mind knitting another Weekender in the future. It was a very enjoyable knit. Maybe I’ll buy some softer, more colorful yarn next time.

The sweater was all I knit for the first 2 weeks of 2019. I have set a new goal for myself to knit 52 hats for charity this year. My Grandma has been doing this for years, along with several ladies from her church. I would love to start creating for other people as well, as I’ve never done anything like that. I did look into the NICU octopus project, but their guidelines are so stringent, I didn’t see myself being successful at that. So I am going to make at least 52 hats, one per week, to donate to Grandma’s church’s clothes closet. Since I only worked on the sweater the first 2 weeks, I had some catching up to do. I pulled out some Red Heart from my stash (this is also going to be a great stashbuster for me!), and on the label was a neat crochet pattern. I have been knitting so much lately, I was relieved to find something to crochet, for once. I crocheted that hat in 2 hours! One hat down, 51 to go!

I had some red and yellow in a bag from last Christmas (2017) from an abandoned project, so I planned to make a couple of Chiefs hats, since they were doing so well in the post-season. Then, I saw that one of the podcasts was having a colorwork KAL, so I found a nice pattern that I could knit and enter another hat. This one took a little longer, but turned out nice as well.

My third hat for the year is also colorwork, but it is crocheted instead of knitted. I have never done anything like this with crochet, and it was a little more work than I bargained for. The yarn kept getting so twisted up, it took a lot longer because I had to keep untwisting it. I thought it would make an adult size hat, but this one barely fits my 2-year-old. Someone will be able to wear it, though. More stashbusting!

My last finished project this year is a pair of socks!! I feel like a knitting machine. I have never completed a pair of socks so quickly, not even the size 6 short summer socks I made for my sister-in-law. The Grocery Girls podcast is running a monthly "sock bash" where each month has a different theme. They have posted all the themes for the year, so I carefully planned out every pair of socks I am making this year to hopefully match the themes, as well as take care of some of my own desires. I have been collecting sock yarn for over a year now, and I figured it was time to start doing something with it. I have enough yarn to make at least 16 pair, and I thought a pair a month would be good, plus all of my other dream projects.

January's theme was "local to me" and I just happened to have 1 skein of yarn from a dyer a few towns over. I purchased it when I was on my way home from a volleyball tournament in the same town this fall, and I didn't plan to do anything with it right away. I bought it because I didn't have anything like it in my stash, and I was collecting bright colors to add some variety to my sock yarn blanket.Since it was the only yarn I had that would fit the theme, I went ahead and added it to the queue (after my sweater, of course!). I was hoping that I could complete the sweater in 2 weeks, and then spend the other 2 weeks of the month on the socks, but the socks only took me 8 days to finish! I posted about them here.

I love these socks more than I probably should, and even my hubby is super impressed with how neat the colors play together. I used the Blueberry Waffles pattern, with Sockmatician's Toe-up Recipe. I made a similar pair last year, but I made these a little shorter in the foot and the leg, so maybe they'll wear a little more snugly. I wore the other pair today, though, and they are really nice, if not a little baggy!

I started 2 other projects that I will be working on over the next few months. Well, one is an ongoing project that will probably never be "finished"--a cozy memories sock yarn blanket that I have tons of fingering weight yarn to add to. I have been buying mini skeins and random bright colors with the intention of making it more diverse. I like blues and purples and teals, so that's what I pick out. So I have been purchasing bright neon yarns, oranges, yellows, reds, and bright greens to give my blanket some variety. I haven't taken a photo of it yet, but I only have 3 tiny squares done. I hope to add a square a day once I finish my next project. They are about 2-3" square, so I will need lots and lots of them to make it at all usable. And I need to weave in ends as I go. Like every other day! I hate weaving ends...

The last project I am currently working on is a sweater I mentioned, for my Grandma. Someone donated a lot of yarn to her knitting group for the charity hats and twiddle muffs, and there was an unopened package of this cotton yarn in the mix. It was enough for a small sweater, not my size, so I asked Grandma to pick out a pattern from a few I had researched. She chose this one, made with the same yarn, so I knew it would look good.

So far, it is coming right along. It is about half and half knit and purl, and I feel like I purl so slowly. I knit continental, and the way I hold my yarn (the same way Grandma taught me, and how I hold it to crochet) makes it difficult to purl the way I've seen some other continental knitters do. I am exploring ways to make it faster or easier, but this sweater is a size small, it is an interesting yet very memorizable pattern, and it's worsted weight, so it is going very quickly. I just started on the front sleeves this evening, and I just started it Wednesday.

I guess I also started on a shawl the other day as well. I couldn't work on my socks during the last Chiefs' game because I knew I would be so tense it would throw my tension off, so I started a new project. I got this yarn from Grandma last year, as it was a donation to her that she said she wouldn't use. It's a beautiful fingering weight merino/mohair/nylon blend, and I only have 1 extra-large skein of it, so I decided to make a Spindrift shawl. I wanted to learn a new way to purl, and since this is in stockinette (knit one side, purl the other), I decided to try to knit the whole piece with the yarn in my right hand and "flick" it. I made it about 8 stitches before I gave up. I need to have lots of time to practice, and to be able to go slow, and not be worried about my home team not going to the Super Bowl again. I might work on this some more once I finish Grandma's sweater.

The only other thing I need to do right away is make another hat. I still have lots of the red and yellow Red Heart, so I might make another ombre knit hat, or I might try a different colorwork pattern. Once the colorwork KAL is over, I will be exclusively crocheting hats unless I find a ridiculously easy and fast knit pattern. Crocheting them is so much faster...

I will try to catch up with last year's projects in the near future. There were far too many projects finished between my last post and the end of the year to include them all in this post, but I'll try to get a post up soon of them. And the boys' newly decorated rooms. Sheesh, it's a lot to keep up with. Wish me luck.

Happy crafting and happy New Year!

Dream knitting...

Okay, now to show off the fun stuff. I mentioned in my last post how I don't like that this server limits the number of labels I can add, so I can't make my posts as easy to search as I'd like. I'm sure I could get some fancy website that allows me to put as many as I want, but honestly, as sporadically (I'm being honest, right?) as I update, I don't want to hassle with it. If I would just post more often, instead of once every 6 months, I could use them the way I'd like, for individual projects, instead of doing a massive post with 20 different projects. Anyway, I digress...

This post is to share some of what I would like to do next, and what I'd like to do it with. I may have to break this up too, as it's getting late and I have a long list.

First up, I'm going to be making Christmas gifts. I am giving a dish cloth (or 2) to all of my kids' teachers, Bible study leaders, our neighbors, the mail lady; all those people you wish you had gotten something to show them you appreciate them, but maybe waited too late. I think a handmade dish cloth and a wooden spoon and maybe even a jar of yummy jam and a nice note is a great gift for someone you don't know terribly well, but want to acknowledge. I have plenty of cotton yarn, since Michael's had a sale recently and I stocked up.

Michael's sale haul

All the cotton

I just ordered some beautiful yarn from Lolodidit that is going to be a Christmas gift. It's in a tonal pinky-burgundy, and it'll become a lovely Gable cap. I can't wait to see this one completed.

Since I crocheted Bl'aig a stingray for his new room, I'm planning to make a Roxie the Hippo for L'aig's room and a super-cute stuffed train for Blessing's room. I'll be using existing Red Heart yarns for each of these. The idea is to have them complete before Christmas.


Speaking of Christmas, I sing with the local symphony chorus, which is pretty amazing and led by a world-renowned Grammy Award-winning choral director. Each holiday season, we put on an amazing weekend of Handel's Messiah, and then the following weekend, we perform a Christmas Festival, which is usually a blend of beautiful seasonal carols as well as traditional secular favorites, like Sleigh Ride, a Santa sing-along, and fun Christmas standards. For the less-formal fun second act, the Chorus is allowed to wear whatever crazy Christmas headgear they like along with their uniform, so last year I knitted (the week of!) a green and red striped Santa hat. I will have to dig out a photo of it. Many of the singers had different accessories for each of 7 performances, so I decided to try to have a little variety this year. I found some really great patterns on Ravelry, now I just have to find time to make them. I'd like to try for 4 new hats, as I won't be singing in all the performances this year.

More gift knits this year: the thrummed mittens I shared about back in March will be a companion set for my hubby and me. I will probably give him the purple ones, as that is his favorite color. Oh well... Also, more Christmas ball ornaments to come. I plan to make those for the immediate family each year, changing the number and the pattern each year. I might even do different colors eventually.

Last, but not least (at least for the knits with a deadline), is a sweater for my Grandma. Grandma is the one that taught me how to crochet so many years ago. She knits, she hand-quilts, she sews, she bakes, she cans sweet pickles, makes the best chicken & noodles I've ever had, and as a 3-time cancer survivor, she is an inspiration to me. At 89 (she just celebrated another birthday last week!), she has crocheted over 150 hats for charity and over 100 double-layered twiddle muffs for Alzheimer's patients, in one year.

People have heard about her endeavor and have started donating yarn, and some of it is quite nice! We visit her every week, and nearly every time, she tells me to go through her yarn pile and pick out anything I like. I have picked up several skeins of sock yarn (she only like working with DK and worsted acrylic and cotton) and eyelash yarns from her, as well as a few random discontinued skeins of varying wools. Someone donated a brand new sweater's quantity of Classic Elite Provence cotton in a lovely pink shade, so I asked Grandma if she was going to use it. She said she had no idea what to do with it (it's DK weight), so I asked if she wanted to pick out a sweater for me to make for her with it. She picked out this beautiful textured sweater, so I will start on it shortly after Christmas. I told Grandma I'd try to have it finished by Mothers' Day for her.

Those are my immediate pieces. I'm sure I will end up making others before it's all said and done. I might have another Etsy order sneak in there, or a Christmas gift or something. I also need to finish up the blankets I started, make my other Christmas ideas, do some sewing, and get ready to homeschool my twins next year. I think that should be enough for a while.

This will probably be the last of my frantic, must-post-while-I'm-in-the-mood phase. I'll post some photos of the boys' rooms soon, but other than that, it'll be slow and steady on these big projects. Thanks for sticking with me and reading all this. Until next time...

Blankets, and socks, and sweaters, oh my!

It is never my intention to go months without updating, let alone 6 months, but that is what happened this year. I have been keeping busy with my crafting (well, crocheting mostly), but I haven't done a great job of keeping up my blog along the way. I have taken loads of photos of everything, and even kept a detailed list of all the projects I completed this year!

I'll start with the last thing I finished, a very time-consuming project that has kept me busy for months! This summer, we were blessed to get to go see my aunt and uncle in South Carolina, and they have always lived near water. Either the ocean, a huge pond on their ranch, swimming pools in their backyards, lakes that are actually drained in the winter, or Lake Murray, where they currently live, and have just finished building a beautiful new home. They have always been very generous people and let us stay with them, borrow their vehicles, provide everything we need for our stay, and never ask for anything in return. They always send gifts for my children's birthdays and Christmas, when we don't really do that for the rest of the family.

I found a project on Ravelry this summer while we were visiting them that inspired me, and I knew as soon as I saw it that I needed to make a similar project and gift it to my relatives. It is based on Planet June's Turtle Beach blanket, and I used colors I found from Hobby Lobby. When I picked them out, I had the "sand" colors in the reverse order, so it looked differently than the final project turned out. I am not completely satisfied with how the sand turned out, but it's too late to take it out, as it has to go on an airplane with my mom in a few days. I really like how crocheting through the back loop (for the whole blanket!) gives the ripple effect more definition, and I think it really adds to the project.

My gauge must have been completely off, because I was planning to make it 52" x 60", and it turned out to be 46" x 75". I also had over 4 skeins of yarn leftover, so my math must have been off as well. At least I use Hobby Lobby yarn a lot, so it won't go to waste!

This blanket is what I've been working on since the beginning of August, to the exclusion of nearly everything else. I started a baby blanket just before then using some of the Mandala yarn in Phoenix and a no-pill yarn from Hobby Lobby. I've only been able to get about a third of it finished (I think?), so I'll be working on it more after my next projects.

I am currently working on a pair of socks (yes, socks!) that will probably have to be a gift for my sister-in-law, that I plan to finish up in the next week or so. I have limited yarn leftover to finish them from another pair of socks, so I don't think I'll be able to make socks big enough for my feet. These will be the 3rd pair of socks I've made since I wrote last! I'm following a sock knit-along with the Yarn Hoarder lady on Youtube, so I decided to try my hand at knitting socks. I don't mind it too much, I just don't think I can make the exact same pair over and over like some people. I've tried 3 different things with each pair: a German short row heel, an afterthought heel, and currently, just a short row heel with a pattern on top, and I have enjoyed each pair. I still don't think I can allow myself to spend upwards of $30 on yarn for socks, but I think the novelty of pretty yarns for socks is an interesting notion.

Here is the 1st pair (technically, the 2nd pair I've ever made):

Red Heart sock yarn, German short row heel

Here's the 2nd pair:

Cloudborn sock yarn, afterthought heel

The current pair I'm working on is with the Cloudborn yarn, with the aqua as the main color and the stripes for the toe and heels (hopefully). If I run out, I'll figure out something else to do with the yarn, but it was too much to just put into my ugly square.

Other than the projects listed above, I've been involved in a craft fair at my alma mater, so I made viking hats, braids, and beards in infant, child, and adult sizes using my school colors (blue and gold). They were a lot of fun to wear to our Homecoming football game (we were even on the local news!), and have gotten a lot of traffic on my Etsy site. I am putting them out as "team spirit" products, and they can be made in any school's colors. I have my Etsy shop on vacation until after the holidays, but they'll be available after that for any team.

I have been busy the last 6 months, finishing up large projects and starting new ones. I finished all of the boys' striped sweaters during that time. I'll include photos of these at the bottom. I also planned 2 birthday parties, 2 vacations, reffed a LOT of volleyball matches, and joined the local symphony chorus. Blessing is walking, so he keeps me busy during the day, and we volunteer at our church a couple of times a month. We are planning a large Christmas party this month, and I still take the boys to see my grandparents at least once a week. My grandpa passed away early in October, so we are very eager to spend as much time as possible with Grandma.

I hope to keep updating more often, especially after the holidays. I will post a year-in-review shortly to go over all the things I was able to complete this year, which is great for me to see. A lot of times I feel like I can't get anything done, but then I check that list and see that I've done a lot more than I realize. Until then, happy crafting and merry Christmas if I don't get to post before then.

DK sweater for Bl'aig

DK sweater for L'aig

DK cardigan for Blessing

Lately

I've been busy knitting so many things lately, I haven't taken the time to take proper photos. I have been working on the sweaters for the boys, plus a blanket, making beards like crazy, weaving in ends on projects I've had off the hooks forever, and making gifts with the Cricut.

The boys' sweaters are finally coming along nicely. I finished weaving in all the ends on little Blessing's brown cardigan this week, although I still need to sew on the 5 buttons. Once I get that finished, I'll take a pic to post. The blue striped pullover now has 1 sleeve finished (as of yesterday!), and I'm about ready to finish the second sleeve soon. I still have ends to weave on that one. I also started a green sweater in the same style, using the same colors as the brown one. I'm about two-thirds done with the body, and will post photos as it gets closer to finished.

I found a home for the little purple striped sweater and wove in all the ends on it. My best friend had a little girl in March, so I gave it to her as a gift this weekend when she was in town from Tennessee. It will look great on this little cutie this winter!

I wove in the ends on my big maroon crochet C2C blanket today and let the boys finally lay under it during movie night tonight. They love how soft, large, and warm it is. They didn't say so, but the hubby spoke for them.

I have made 2 more dwarf beards since I wrote last, both in a color I had not done before. I took photos of my handsome hubby in it, so I would have a photo of a male wearing my beards with no helmet of any kind.

Beard in light brown Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn

Surprise! I have a beard!

In character

Side shot; it's not too small, he just has a very large head...

My hubby has always worn glasses and rarely has an opportunity to see himself without them (unless he's 4 inches from the mirror), so he was pleased to see himself in a photo without his favorite accessory.

I also made some projects with the Cricut for Mothers' Day, but had some technical difficulties, so I haven't yet had an opportunity to give the mothers their belated gifts. I will be doing that soon, so I can share some of the fun things I've been doing with that piece of equipment. I have a lot of iron-on and a lot of the regular vinyl, so I will be on the lookout for opportunities to use both of those for gifts and for around the house in the coming months and years.

One of the last things I've been working on is a beautiful knitted quilt, by Very Pink Knits. I am making it with Lion Brand Mandala yarn. Yes, I have hopped on the Mandala bandwagon and I've fallen completely down the rabbit hole. I fell in love with this yarn after I saw this cowl on Pinterest:

I found out it was unavailable ("Out of Stock" on LionBrand.com) online and only available in certain WalMarts, so I tried to look on Ebay, but it was quite pricey there. I don't live near any of the WalMarts on their map, but I realized that my mom was visiting her sister in South Carolina, and they had it there! I begged her to pick up some for me in the above color, as well as two others. She sent home a huge box of 15 cakes for me! Then, a couple of weeks later, we were visiting family in Springfield, Missouri, and the yarn was at a WalMart just over the Arkansas state line, so I begged the hubby to go there with me, and I was able to get my hands on all the other colors (there are 16 total). So now I have more yarn than I will ever be able to use for a long time, but it's unique and a little hard to get a hold of.

I am using one of the colors (Wood Nymph) to make the quilt. I have one block (out of 16) done, and the small squares for 8 more completed.

The pattern calls for bulky weight yarn and the Mandala is DK, so I just made the first squares to the correct measurements instead of following the number of rows. I ended up with 23 garter rows, or 46 stitches, after the first squares were finished. The other 8 blocks will have the cream in the center and the outside, with the purples in the middle section. I can't wait to see it put together!

I am feeling a bit dizzy, probably from staring at the computer screen all night instead of knitting, so I should wrap this up. Hope you are having fun with your projects!

Here we go again!

So many new things going on in my craft-mind, it feels like the last several posts have just been exploding with projects. I feel like I can't make up my mind about what exactly I want to do, so I'm just doing everything.

One of the reasons for this is a new podcast I've been watching: The Yarn Hoarder. This gal is so busy, with so many different plates spinning at once, I don't know how she has time to do everything, and podcast, and keep up with her Ravelry group, and find new patterns and yarns to share. Her self-control issues alarmed me at first (they made me have issues too!), but once I got over wanting to have everything she talks about, I realized it is just inspirational to see so many new things I can do with yarn. She has inspired me to just try knitting socks and not be intimidated by them, to finish my sweaters, and her crochet blanket make-a-long inspired me to make (and finish!) my C2C blanket.

She has a wall of (what I consider to be very expensive) wool yarn behind her, plus thousands of dollars worth of needles, hooks, notions, and many other craft projects, which is what I think draws people to her, but she also runs many giveaways and shares ideas for patterns and yarns to try. She shared a felted slipper pattern before Christmas, and I have bought all the items needed to make a pair. I have never felted before, so I am excited and a little bit scared.

All of that to say, I have been branching out too. One thing I forgot to mention: she always talks about her "project bags." I didn't know this was a thing until she mentioned them. They are always cute fabric prints with lots of details, so she shows all the different things about them and where you can buy them. These ladies (and some men) on Etsy are charging outrageous amounts for a project bag, which is basically a cosmetics bag with a cute print and a couple of extra pockets. So I decided I could make that.

I'm not what I would consider a skilled sewer, but my mom did teach me when I was young to use a sewing machine. I have owned one for most of my life (either Mom's or hand-me-downs when I moved out), but for the most part, it sits in its lonely case in the closet. I am trying, though. I watched several YouTube videos (what would we do without it? Learn by apprenticeship?) and realized that the sewing machine is not as scary as I thought, it's not rocket science, and with a little practice, I can probably figure out how to make some of these bags myself.

My first project was not a bag, though. My little Blessing loves to chew on things, anything he can get his 2 little teeth on, especially tags, so I made him a little taggie blanket (we call them "Softs" in our house). I did my best, and pinned everything just so, and sewed it all together, did a top-stitch around the edge (I learned what top-stitching is from YouTube!), and I'm so proud of that little thing!

I have enough fabric leftover that I might just make another one, for when he throws up yellow all over it and it's in the wash. It took forever (I'm still new to this), but hopefully I'll be able to do the next one quicker.


I also bought a ton of fabric from my local Joann's to start making bags with. I've also found some tutorials on making rolled knitting needle cases and DPN cozies. Now I just need to find time to work on them...

After we finished the quiet books a few weeks ago, I told my awesome old-school Grandma that I wanted to learn to quilt like her the old-fashioned way: by hand. She churned out more than 16 twin-size quilts in one year for all the great-grandkids, and she did it all by hand. She's amazing! I didn't want to start something I couldn't finish, so I told her I'd like to make placemats. I'm making each one different, using a traditional quilting pattern. None of this silly machine quilting in a day for me: I'm taking a month to make a placemat! 😊 I've been looking up patterns, and consulting Grandma's advice, and I think we've found some winners.

The first one I'm making is one of my favorites: a tumbling block. It's just a bunch of diamonds, which if you arrange them differently, end up looking like a star. But if you put them in just the right configuration, it comes across looking like an endless stack of blocks. I've always loved this pattern and can't wait to get it finished. Here's the layout:

After hand-sewing all the blocks on the bottom two rows together, I realized it's going to be a bit short, so I still need to cut out pieces for an extra top and side row of blocks. I really like the fun prints and am excited to quilt this one. The plan is to use complementary colors/fabrics for all 8 placemats, so they coordinate, but don't match.

The last big thing I've done recently is purchase a Cricut. I still don't have all the ins and outs of using the software, but I think it'll be amazing for making gifts for friends and family, and using up all my extra felt (and all the felt I bought when it was on sale a few weeks ago...). I would like to make a felt board for the boys that uses some of the more complicated and involved quiet book pages I found, but didn't want to make 3 of. The Cricut will be a huge help in cutting those pieces out, if I can figure out how to get the template in the Design Space to cut them.

Here is a photo of my recently updated craft space:

I got a ton of Cricut supplies with my machine and they were having a pretty good sale on their website as well, so I stocked up on all the vinyl and other supplies I could think of. I also purchased some necessary knitting/crocheting supplies (we got a rather sizable tax return, so I got a little bit of extra spending money) including a digital scale, some foam blockers (so I can finally not use my children's toys to block!), sock blockers, and the most useful so far, a ball winder.

If I didn't already have enough going on with all my knitting and crochet projects, I definitely have enough to keep me busy now. I have so much fabric to start sewing, plus the Cricut to start labeling everything, and more felt than I can probably ever use in a lifetime.

So much to post!!

I have a ridiculous number of projects and things to talk about, so I need to just get it out there. I've been very busy spending time with my kiddos, being outdoors, watering flowers and plants in our new yard, finding fun things to do this summer, and I was housesitting my mom's place for a month while she spent time with her sister. In my "free time," I have been working on quite a few large projects, as well as lots of little things. Add to that, a very needy little boy who likes to be held every waking moment, and still refuses to sleep through the night, I've been very busy!

One of the cutest reasons to not post

First, I should wrap up about some projects I hinted at a couple of months ago. My mother-in-law loved the brown and navy flower beanie I made for her in January, so for her birthday, she requested a solid black hat, with removable flowers in red and tan. I had a hard time finding the right tan, so it is more of a yellowy cream than a tan, but she liked it. I just sewed the flowers to a barrette clip, and it worked out beautifully. She can wear both together, either color separately, or just the black hat. If I'd had that yarn in white, I probably would have made a white flower as well, but those were the only colors I bought.

Caron Simply Soft black, red, tan

 

The next project I hinted about was the pink elephant. I wanted to make it for our youth minister's new daughter, and since I never get to make girly things, I immediately found my pink stash. I planned to give it to them at their shower, but that was the week Blessing cut his first teeth, stopped sleeping through the night, and rolled over, so he was very high-maintenance that week. I didn't get it completely finished by the following week when I gave it to them, either. I should have sewed toes, eyebrows, a smile, and crocheted a chain tail. I also misread the pattern on a couple of points. It had different wording for crocheting in the back loop, so I did the opposite. Oops. They won't be able to tell, but I fixed this for the next one I made (still needing to be sewn and stuffed for Blessing...).
 

Old Red Heart yarn from Grandma

I am all but finished with 3 sweaters, and have made amazing progress on another one, and just cast on the last one yesterday. The first one is the first sweater I've made for an infant, and it is for Blessing. I believe I mentioned it in a previous post, about the outrageous cost of the yarn and the care of this sweater. I still haven't blocked it, but I think it turned out beautifully. I should have just enough yarn leftover to make myself some ankle socks as well. The yarn is so squishy.

Cleckheaton merino wool in Truffle and Cream, size 6 needles, per pattern

The second sweater is the one I made for Blessing with the leftover yarn from a gift several years ago. I still need to weave in the ends on one sleeve and sew on the buttons, but I think it turned out beautifully.

Yarn Bee yarn from Sue

I had a bunch of girl colors (purple, pastels) that I didn't know what else to do with, so I started a sweater for a little girl in the same style as Blessing's sweater. I wanted to try to steek it, but realized since it was acrylic, that wouldn't work as well as it would if it were wool, so I just just finished it in the round. Of course, it also needs the ends woven in...

Yarn Bee yarn from Sue

The fourth sweater is for one of the twins. I just finished the bottom ribbing Sunday, and obviously still need the sleeves. I should have woven the ends in as I went, but I'll just have to take a day or two to finish that when it's completed. It is going so much faster because it's all in the round, instead of the cardigan, which was all stockinette.

Yarn Bee from Hobby Lobby; Lion Brand Baby Soft in blue and yellow

The last sweater I just started is going to be just like the blue sweater, except the main color will be green. I hoped to have them done by Easter, but that didn't happen, with all the other projects I've had.

I also heard about this thing called a "corner to corner" (or C2C) crochet blanket. I have always liked the Sweet Rolls at Joann's when I went, but never had a use for them, so I ignored them. They had them on sale for 3 for $10 a few weeks ago, which I thought was reasonable, so I bought 4 in two different colors. I let my hubby pick which one he liked better, and he liked the Cherry Twist. I decided to make one of those blankets, but I didn't know how much yarn I would need. I ended up going back to buy 3 more skeins of the yarn, and it still isn't huge, but it is bigger now that I got the other 3. The yarn is warm and fairly soft (although I think Hobby Lobby's "I Love This Yarn" is softer), and the colors are beautiful. It doesn't match anything in our home, but we like it. Once again, I still need to weave in the ends. I entered it in a crochet-a-long on Ravelry, so I might be able to win something for completing it.

 

Sweet Roll in Cherry Twist; H hook, 7 skeins

I also sold my first beard since my Etsy site came back from vacation! I only had leftovers, but I had just enough of 3 different browns to make a full beard. I think this is actually the most realistic and beautiful beard I've ever made. I really like how the different yarns made it look like highlights and lowlights. I probably won't ever make another one like it (unless I have only remnants left), but it turned out wonderfully. I hope the gentleman likes it.

I have so much more I want to post about, but this is getting quite long. I'll try to finish up with a pair of flip flip socks I made a couple of years ago. These are the only socks I ever made, and I hope to be making several more this year. I made them with wool I received as a gift, and I barely knew how to knit at the time, let alone, what a gusset or heel flap were. Yet, I finished them both, even though my gauge was way off.

Wool from Cheryl

The Mother of All Projects

Here it is: my crowning achievement!! Over two years in the making, it is everything I hoped it would be when I started it. It took about 3 months of real work after I picked it back up, and I enlisted my grandma, who crochets, knits, and quilts daily, and my mom, who recently retired and was able to help cut and wrangle little people so we could work.

Cover: match the letters to your name

Put your hands in the mittens

Mirror

Lift the flap and a photo of you is there

Weaving

Match the shapes to their names

Buckle the belt

Match the balloons to the correct colors

Fire truck and police cars go on the track

Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head

Count the train cars

Put the coins in the piggy bank

L'aig was so excited, I could barely get the photos taken before he wanted to play!

Ribbon pulls

Open the barn doors and hay window

Help the frog catch flies

Count the beads

Put the mail in the mailbox

Feed the monster

Unbutton the flowers

Lace and tie the shoe

Help the cars through the tunnels

Kite puzzle

Peel the banana

Feely page

Dedication page

Finger maze

So there it is. It took me forever to complete 3 or 4 pages by myself 2 years ago because I hand-sewed everything (including all the small pieces for the Potato Head pages). And that was when I was only making 2 books. Since Blessing came along, and I was going to have help, I decided to go ahead and make him one too.

Once I figured out that fusible web works great with felt (wish I'd known that 2 years ago!), we made swift work of it. I would draw all the shapes on the web during the week, then when we went to Grandma's on Fridays, I would iron it to one side of the felt, then have her or Mom cut out the pieces, and then iron everything onto the page. We still had to hand-sew on buttons and snaps and things, but Grandma enjoyed doing that during the week while she watched TV. I also invested in the Babyville Boutique snaps and snap device, which made it even quicker to finish.

All in all, I'm quite pleased with how they turned out. The last two pages were made possible courtesy of my new Cricut, which I'll tell more about in another post. Almost all of the pages were based on ideas I saw online (after much research), but the patterns themselves (with the exception of the Potato Head pages) were drawn by me. I link to all of the pages on my Pinterest board.

That's it. Now I'm working on many, many other projects, and I'll share about more of them later on, but I just wanted to get these on here for tonight. I might post again tonight (depends how sleepy I get after the baby goes to bed) with some of my other completed objects. Until next time, happy Easter and God bless!